


Is Our Skin to Keep the World Out or Our Bodies In?

by Branithar



Series: Short Fics [16]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Fluff, High School, M/M, Teen Crush, Trans Male Character, coffee shop au but it's a chip shop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:53:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26156053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Branithar/pseuds/Branithar
Summary: Ashton works at a fish 'n' chips shop and has a customer that uses a different name every time he comes in.
Relationships: Luke Hemmings/Ashton Irwin
Series: Short Fics [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1409368
Comments: 2
Kudos: 45





	Is Our Skin to Keep the World Out or Our Bodies In?

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone is doing trans AUs so I wanted to do one too. 
> 
> Title is from A Tale of Outer Suburbia by Hands Like Houses.

“Four dollars of salt and vinegar chips for Linda?” Ashton confirmed from the note he’d made. 

“Yeah, thanks,” the person on the phone confirmed. 

“They’ll be ready in about ten minutes,” Ashton said, hanging the order up. 

“Great.” 

As Ashton hung up, two kids about his own age, both with emo fringes like his, came in. The one with lighter hair and narrow eyes approached the counter nervously. 

“Chips for Logan?” the kid asked quietly, almost too quietly for Ashton to hear. 

Ashton went to the heater and checked the tag on the bag of chips there. “Five dollars of chicken salt for Logan?” 

The kid nodded and slipped a five dollar bill onto the counter. 

Ashton took the money and passed Logan the chips. “Have a nice day.”

“You too,” Logan mumbled, leaving with the other kid quickly. 

Ashton didn’t think much of it until they got that order again around the same time a week later for “James” and the kid picked it up, this time accompanied by a dark-haired friend. Ashton wondered if he’d misremembered his name, since all the orders and customers tended to blend together in his memory, but a week later he was back with his pale friend, this time asking for chips for Matt. 

At this point, Ashton assumed it was just a thing with the kid and his friends, using a different name every time he ordered. He was starting to become familiar with his voice when he ordered over the phone and wondered if it was creepy to have this particular order committed to memory. It was a simple one, but this place had a lot of regulars who ordered the same thing every week and he hadn’t memorised any of _them_ , despite them being consistent with their names. Maybe the fact that this kid always used a different name just stuck out to him. 

Ashton even noticed it when the kid used “Damien” twice in a row and wondered whether he should comment on it, but in the end he didn’t. Had he just forgotten that he already used that name? Whatever the answer was, the next week, the order was for “Luke.” 

The kid was a lot less shy than he’d been at first, though he still always came in with one of those two friends. This time, he was with the dark haired one. 

“Just a sec,” Ashton called, from where he was preparing their chips. He wrapped them and took them to the counter, eyes on the waiting boy. “Luke.” 

He grinned at Ashton as he passed the five dollar bill and took the chips. 

“It suits you,” Ashton blurted, “Luke.” 

“Thanks,” he replied shyly, clearly trying to get his smile under control. 

“See ya!” Ashton called as they left. 

“See ya!” he replied. 

The kid used “Luke” again the week after that. The week after _that_ Ashton finally had the guts to try talking to him. 

“So is it Luke, now?” he asked as he put away the five dollar bill. 

“I think so,” Luke replied with a shy smile. 

Ashton grinned. “I like it.”


End file.
